BUCKS COUNTY, PA

New College in Lower Bucks

Bucks County Community College has made good on its promise to open a Lower Bucks campus. The 55,000-square-foot facility includes 21 classrooms, six computer labs, a biology lab, an allied health lab, a library, and a bookstore. The campus is also environmentally friendly with a geothermal heat pump, using the constant temperature of the ground several feet below the earth's surface, to cool and heat the building, louvered awnings to shield the windows from the sun’s harsh rays, glazed windows to minimize heat absorption, and waterless urinals to save about a gallon of water per flush. More than 1,200 students are currently attending the new campus.

BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ

A Hometown Original Continues to Mop Up

Quickie Manufacturing Corp., located in Cinnaminson, controls approximately 25 percent of the U.S. cleaning tools market and was started in the garage of Bedros Vosbikian's home. He created the first-ever automatic sponge mop in 1950 after he discovered that his dinner was not ready when he got home from work because his wife was busy scrubbing the floors. In the mid-1970 the company moved from a two-story factory in North Philadelphia to Burlington County, and it has been there ever since.The privately-held company estimates its sales to be around $1.2 billion at retail, with companies like Home Deport and Lowes devoting entire aisles to Quickie products.

CAMDEN COUNTY, NJ

Port Joins Effort to Connect Residents with Jobs

The South Jersey Port Corporation recently contributed funding to an important local effort to provide employment training and job placement for Camden residents. The Port District Employment Partnership is a joint endeavor including the port community, Liberty Park Neighborhood Association and Youth on the Move, Inc. Together the organizations want to identify full-time jobs for Camden residents, connect local residents to jobs at the port and develop programs and community support to help residents prepare for full-time employment.

CHESTER COUNTY, PA

Mushrooms Help Chester County Grow

Chester County Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC) has been awarded a $30,000 Regional Economic Development District Initiative (REDDI) grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).  The funds will be used to study methods for efficacious recycling of spent mushroom substrate.  The material, upon which mushrooms are grown, is leftover after the mushrooms are harvested and must be replaced with fresh substrate (primarily hay, horse manure, and topsoil) to begin a new growing cycle. State Representative Art Hershey (R-13) was instrumental in securing the grant that is intended help the $700 million mushroom industry in Pennsylvania by identifying cost-effective, environmental-friendly approaches to reusing the spent substrate, especially as a growing medium.

And speaking of mushrooms…

Laurel Valley Farms, Inc., a compost manufacturer located in Southern Chester County, prepares mushroom substrate for a number of mushroom growers in Chester and Berks counties.  In addition, they re-formulate the mushroom compost taken out of the mushroom houses for use in the landscape industry, including as media for green roof installations.

The business has been mushrooming, so to speak, and Laurel Valley needed to expand and enhance their compost production facility. The Chester County Industrial Development Authority served as the sponsor for Laurel Valley 's successful application to the Pennsylvania Economic Development Finance Authority (PEDFA) for a tax-exempt mortgage of $7.2 million from the First National Bank of Chester County to finance this project.

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA

Take Me Out to the Soccer Ball Game

Delaware County is taking steps to win a professional soccer franchise. Major League Soccer will be naming two new franchises in the very near future and a group of investors have said that they have the site and private financial backing necessary to close the deal. The investors, who are headed by Jay Sugarman, CEO of New York-based iStar Financial and also include Christopher and Robert Buccini and David Pollin; James Nevels, a Swarthmore businessman and former Philadelphia School Reform Commission chairman; and William Doran, a partner at the law firm of Morgan Lewis, together own a site south of the Commodore Barry Bridge. Governor Rendell is supportive of providing state aid as other states are currently vying for one of the two new soccer franchises which would require $300 million. More than half of the funding would go toward the new sports complex, including four practice fields, which would be available for community use as well.

Stealing a Steel Manufacturer

Steel counterweight manufacturing company, Concord Steel, will be opening a facility in Tinicum industrial park, in a deal that promises to bring at least 85 new jobs to the county. The manufacturer also has facilties in Chicago and Ohio and chose this new facility because of the availability of cranes, its 50-foot ceilings, and overall accessibility to railways, and highways like I-95 and the Blue Route. Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development negotiated $320,000 in state funding, which included maximums of $100,000 from the Opportunity Grant Program, $50,000 in Customized Job Training Funds and $170,000 in Job Creation Tax Credits. In exchange, Concord Steel has agreed to create at least 85 new jobs in the next three years and make a capital investment of $2.5 million to $3 million for this project.

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NJ

New Plant Brings New Jobs

Advanced Drainage Systems opened its new $12 million plant in Logan Township. The 68,000-square-foot facility will employ approximately 100 workers. ADS, the world's largest manufacturer of high-density polyethylene pipe, chose a location in Gloucester County for its strategic geographic location and access to a skilled labor market .  

French Company Expands in Gibbstown

Air Liquide Industrial U.S. LP, a world leader in industrial and medical gas, has announced plans to expand operations at its plan in Gibbstown. The investments will be made to increase the capacity for dry ice production.

Air Liquide Industrial U.S. LP is the subsidiary of American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc. It is responsible for providing bulk gases and related services to a diverse base of customers in the U.S. including those in the chemical, food, pharmaceutical, metals and automotive industries. American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc. is the subsidiary of Air Liquide Group responsible for its North American operations.

MERCER COUNTY, NJ

Princeton and Spinout Granted Funds for Technology

Princeton University and Philadelphia-based BioNanomatrix Inc., a spinout of the college, have received a two-year $200,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute. The grant will be used for a cell-fractionation technology project that separates out and sorts whole chromosomes from a single cell or multiple cells. The process has applications in clinical genetics, cancer diagnostics and biomedical research.

Merck Acquires New Drug Development Company

Merck has completed its acquisition of NovaCardia, Inc. for $366.4 million. The 11-person drug development company has a promising experimental heart drug, which is in its final human testing phase.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA

From the Sunshine to Keystone, Soil Company Moves its HQ

Advanced Soil Technologies, Inc. was recently purchased by a local venture capital firm and will be moving its headquarters from North Palm Beach, Florida to King of Prussia . Walt Norley, the company's founder, president and CEO, expects that the organization will have 10 to 20 people in sales, marketing and administration based here. The company has developed and continues to market two soil-sensing systems, typically used by golf courses, including the Merion Golf Club. AST is now also testing a new system, that would be used for environmental monitoring of soil, with a local pharmaceutical company.

Development Approval for American Revolution Center

The local Board of Supervisors in Lower Providence has approved a zoning change, which will allow for new development in Valley Forge National Historical Park. Although no timetable has been set, the change will support the creation of the proposed American Revolution Center. The potential facility could occupy up to 500,000 square feet and would include a conference center and hotel, a restaurant, retail, a transit station, parking, camp sites and outdoor exhibits.

NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DE

Delaware Recognized as a Top Place for Business

Several organizations in New Castle County have recently received important designations and awards. They include:

  • U.S. News & World Report recognized Christiana Care Health Care System as one of “America 's Best Hospitals.” The report ranked U.S. hospitals based on 16 specialties, from cancer and heart disease to respiratory disorders and urology.

  • Port to-Port Corporation was named one of the “Hot 500 Fastest Growing Businesses in America ” by Entrepreneur magazine. The company was included because of its positive job growth and reported sales between $100,000 and $1 billion from 2002 to 2006.
  • AstraZeneca was recently recognized by Working Mother magazine as one of the top 100 best companies to work for the sixth year in a row.

    • PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, PA

    New Healthcare Business & Policy College in Philadelphia

    The University of the Sciences has announced plans to open a fifth college, which will prepare professionals to work in environments where legislative, regulatory, commercial, clinical and technological, and health-care business issues converge. The Mays College of Healthcare Business and Policy was named for alumna and entrepreneur Dr. Kate Mayes who founded and owns Applied Clinical Communications. New degree programs will include undergraduate degrees in long-term-care facilities management and regulatory affairs and compliance, a master's degree in global health-care leadership and a doctorate in health sciences management.

    New Tower Development Cracking Open on Walnut Street

    In a project that has been over twenty years in the making, Parkway Corporation is planning to build an office, residential or hotel tower with up to 275,000 square feet of space atop an existing garage at 800 Walnut St. Parkway is the city's largest owner of parking garages and lots. Its president Robert Zuritsky cited low office space vacancy rates in Center City as the impetus for moving forward. According to real estate brokers, vacancy rates for that area of the city are about 5.2 percent, compared with 15 percent just two years ago. This change can be attributed to several different factors, including organic growth, particularly among health organizations that are thriving in the region's strong life science market.

    SALEM COUNTY, NJ

    Salem County College President Recognized for Service

    Salem Community College President Peter B. Contini was recently recognized by the New Jersey Council of Community Colleges for his exemplary service. In addition to Contini's good work on the New Jersey Presidents' Council's Transfer and Articulation Coordinating Committee, he has also been the college's longest serving president. He has led comprehensive strategic planning that helped to create new degree programs; the expansion of instructional technology; and the completion of over $6 million in facility renovations and new construction.